BaalBek
Approximately 86 kilometers northeast of the city of Beirut in eastern Lebanon stands the temple complex of Baalbek. Situated atop a high point in the fertile Bekaa valley, the ruins of Baalbek are one of the most extraordinary and enigmatic places of ancient times.
No one, and I mean no living Human Being knows the actual date or even the age in which this structure was built however considering its estimated age and its location it can be considered part of the most ancient of all structures, most probably having been built by the original aliens that came to Earth and settled in this part of the world (these beings would be the Annunaki that are referred to and written about in the old records of Sumer (now Iraq).
What is amazing is the megalithic size of the blocks and stones used to construct BaalBek and how each was fitted together, without cement or mortar. Some of the blocks weigh in at 2000 tones, the largest ever discovered on this planet. “BaalBek” is NOT the original name of this area. The present name was given to it by the Romans who conquered the area around330 BC. “Baal” mean God or Lord and “Bek” refers to the valley of Bekaa that surrounds the temple.
The real disparity all such ancient sites suffer from is the modern archeology’s misuse of dates when giving an estimate of its age. the 5000 year date emanates directly from the Christian church which has insisted the Earth was created in 4004 BC, (In the 1650′s a bishop named James Ussher studied the genealogies in the Old Testament and he calculated that the earth was created in 4004 B.C.). Carbon dating and other methods indicate BaalBek to be one of the most ancient structures (area) known, exceeding even the last ice age.
Ancient legends assert that Baalbek was the birthplace of Baal. Some scholars have suggested that Baal (the Assyrian Hadad) was only one of a triad of Phoenician deities that were once venerated at this site; the others being his son Aliyan, who presided over well-springs and fecundity, and his daughter Anat (Assyrian Atargatis).
In the Seleucid (323-64 BC) and Roman (64 BC-312 AD) periods, the city became known as Heliopolis, the ‘City of the Sun.’ The sky/sun god Jupiter became the central deity of the shrine during this time.
Many Roman emperors were of Syrian birth, so it would not have been unusual for them to have promoted the worship of the country’s indigenous deities under their adopted Roman names. Whatever the nature of the pre-Roman worship at Baalbek, its veneration of Baal created a hybrid form of the god Jupiter, generally referred to as Jupiter Heliopolitan. The Romans also assimilated the worship of the goddess Astarte with that of Aphrodite or Venus, and the god Adonis was identified with Bacchus.
The origin and development of Baalbek may be considered from two quite different eras of history, one is the conventional approach that views civilization as having only begun in middle Neolithic times while the second (alternative) approach which suggests that developed cultures (this means: civilized, organized and technologically developed) existed in what is archaeologically known as the Paleolithic period. Let us first examine the chronology of Baalbek from the conventional approach, which I believe does not actually support or describe this ancient site with any realistic accuracy.
According to theories stated by the mainstream archaeological community, the history of Baalbek reaches back approximately (only) 5000 years however excavations beneath the Great Court of the Temple of Jupiter have uncovered traces of settlements dating back to the Middle of the Bronze Age (1900-1600 BC) which was built on top of an older level of human habitation dating to the Early Bronze Age (2900-2300 BC).
Because the great stones of Baalbek are similar to0 but far larger, than the stones used in building the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, archaeologists have attempted to connect these two sites under one (Solomon) builder. If Solomon had really erected the structures of Baalbek and the Temple at Jerusalem the Old Testament mentions nothing about this fact.
The late 11th century BC witnessed the arrival of the Assyrian army on the Mediterranean coast but because Baalbek is not mentioned alongside the names of other Phonecian cities, it has been assumed that Baalbek was an obscure religious center with no political or trade importance.
The records of Alexander’s mention Baalbek on the march through the Valley of Beqa’a on his way to Damascus.
The name Heliopolis, by which Baalbek was known during Greco-Roman times, derives from Greek association with the site beginning in 331 BC. The name (Heliopolis “The City of the Sun”) was also used by the Ptolemies of Egypt between 323 and 198 BC, in order to express the importance this holy site held for the Egyptians.
A sacred site with this same name already existed in Egypt and the new Ptolomaic rulers may have found it provident to link the ancient sky-god of Baalbek with the Egyptian god Ra and the Greek Helios in order to establish closer religious and cultural ties between their newly established Ptolomaic dynasty in Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean world.
As as side note of some interest here is a bit of history about the Ptolomaic dynasty in Egypt.
In 332 BC, Alexander the Great conquered Egypt and gave a new capital to the old kingdom along the Nile, Alexandria. After his death (11 June 323), his friend Ptolemy became satrap of Egypt, and started to behave himself rather independently. When Perdiccas, the regent of Alexander’s mentally unfit successor Philip Arridaeus arrived in 320, he was defeated. This marked the beginning of Egypt’s independence under a new dynasty, the Ptolemies (or Lagids). Ptolemy accepted the royal title in 306.
The fourteen kings of this dynasty were all called Ptolemy and are numbered by modern historians I to XV (Ptolemy VII never reigned). A remarkable aspect of the Ptolemaic monarchy was the prominence of women (seven queens named Cleopatra and four Berenices), who rose to power when their sons or brothers were too young. This was almost unique in Antiquity.
There is no proof what so ever that the Romans had anything at all to do with building the original structure of BaalBek. Modern archeology has proven itself to be unworthy of the task of making an educated guess about the builders or the age in which this complex was built. What we do see when we look at the remaining structures that today compose BaalBek are buildings from two separate eras of time, two separate builders and two separate methods of building, with two separate and distinct set of results. The various stones structures although they are similar in appearance upon closer examination have little resemblance to each other. The original blocks and stones used to create this complex are finely surfaced, of enormous weight (800 – 2000 tones each) and are set so finely that a piece of paper cannot be fitted into the cracks between the blocks. In the later additions to the site, the Roman builders did not have the technology or the instruments to create the fine details found in the original complex and their work while it is amazing unto itself is shabby and crude when compared to the original builders work.
There are so many mysteries about the ancient world, so much evidence, technology, records and proof many books could be written (and have been). When modern archeology attempts to belittle the records and evidence of the past it is doing no more and no less then admitting to its own bias and ignorance. In many case the archaeologists and geologists of today are supported by governments and organizations including churches who simply do not want an informed and educated public (An ignorant and confused and poor population is much easier to control).
To learn more about BaalBek here is a link you might enjoy:
http://www.world-mysteries.com/mpl_5b3.htm
Here are a few photos of the area:
